Mop with built-in shaking device



July 12, 1960 R. s. DEXTER MOP WITH BUILT-IN SHAKING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 19, 1956 July 12, 1960 R. s. DEXTER 2,944,431

MOP wrm BUILT-IN smxmc nsvxcz Filed Nov. 19, 1956 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Boefiii 6176012582 by fiwm July 12, 1960 R. s. DEXTER 2,944,431

MOP WITH BUILT-IN SHAKING DEVICE Filed Nov. 19, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheetfi a I 4/ 40 I M &\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ IIIIIII/IIIIIIIIIIIII/fi L 7 Patented July 12, 1960 2,944,431 MOP wmr BUILT-IN SHAKING DEVICE Robert G. Dexter, Harvard, Mass, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Easy Day Research & Engineering Corp., Brookline, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts v Filed Nov. 19, 1956, Ser. No. 622,883

1 Claim. (CI. 74 89) This inventionrelatesto dust mops, and moreparticularly to mops having built-in devices for shaking the mop head to remove dust and lint.

A number of prior devices have been developed for. cleaning mop heads by agitating or beating the heads. These devices, in general, take the form of either machines in which the mop head is inserted or of attachments to the mop handle to facilitate shaking. The prior attachments, however, have been ,too cumbersome and expensive for general acceptance, especially for home use. Most of the dust mops now on the market consist simply of a head and a handle and the housewife cleans the head by shaking, or by'beating the mop handle against the window-sill. Neither procedure is very effective for cleaning the head, and the handle is likely to be damaged: if struck too hard. e

The principal object of this invention is to provide a shaking device which'can be readily built into a mop handle, which gives a highly elfective shaking motion, which is simple, inexpensive, and light enough to be suitable for mops for household use, and which can be operated with a minimum of eflort.

The device is applied to a mop having an ordinary handle of woodor metal. A tubular-sleeve is mounted to rotate with respect to the handle but is anchored to the handle in theaxial direction. 'Another' such sleeve is mounted around the handle near the upper end and, attached to the inside of this sleeve, isa slidehaving one or more helical slots which engage a pindn'ven through the handle. The user holds the axially fixed sleeve in one hand and moves the other sleeve along with the slide "back, and, forth to impart a rotary motion to the mop head. I h In the drawings illustrating the invention: T Fig. l is a side view of a mop equipped with th shaking device; 7 7 I Fig. 2 is a. fragmentary cross-section, somewhat enlarged, taken along line 2-2 of 1; fly V V v I 7 'Fig.-3 is across-section somewhat enlarged taken along es-me a fl; is" a fragmentary -cross section somewhatQenlarged-t'akenalong line-44 of-Fig. 1; .1;

- Fig. 5 -isa cross-section somewhat enlarged takenalong jEig. 6 is a cross-section similar to Fig. 5 but showing a slide'ofthe modified typeillustr'ated in Fig-,7;

.7 is an isometric view of a modification of the slide: C

Fig. 8'is isometric view of the slide of Fig. 4; A

Fig. 9 is a sideview of anothetgrnodification of the trated in Fig. 9,assembled; V

Fig. 11 is an end view of the assembled sleeve of Fig. 9; Fig. 12 is a cross-section of a modification of the reciprocating sleeve and slide assembly;

w nk d sa e a:

Fig. 13 is a' cross-section of a modification of the axially fixed sleeve;

Fig. 14 is a cross-section of another modification of the axially fixed sleeve; and

h Fig. 15 is a cross-section of another modification of the reciprocating sleeve and slide assembly.

In Fig. 1 the mop is illustrated as consisting of a handle 15 which may be solid or tubular and may be made of metal or wood, in the usual manner, and a wire loop 16 having a threaded portion 16a which engages the left. hand or lower end of the handle. A mop head of any suitable type is mounted on the wire loop when the mop is in use. A tubular sleeve 17, which is preferably made of metal or plastic, is "mounted around the handle at an intermediate position. This sleeve is rotatable on the handle but is anchored in the axial direction by means of the construction shown most clearly in Figs. 2 and 3. A split ring 18 is mounted on the handle and has holes in which are engaged the ends of a pin 19 passing'through' the handle. The tubular sleeve 17' has inner collars 20 and 21 disposed on either side of the ring 18, the ring and pin thus serving to restrain axial motion of sleeve 17 alongthe handle. The 'collarsjmay be pressedjinto. sleeve 17 or, in the case of a metal sleeve, the sleeve ends may bespun' over after the collars have been'assembled. The split ring 18 may be omitted and collars 20 and 21made long enough to engage the pin between them.

A second sleeve 22, whichmaybe called the operating sleeve,'is mounted on handle 15 near its'upper end,

that is the right-hand end as viewed inFig. 1. Inside the sleeve 22 is a cam sleeve or slide generally indicated by the numeral 23, having helical slots24 and 25,, as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 8. Slide 23 may be press-fitted into.

sleeve 22 but preferably carries stamped-out tabs 26 which tightly engage the inner'wall of sleeve 22 to pre-' ventrelativerotational movement ,of the two sleeves, and:

to center the inner .sleeve longitudinally in the outer sleeve. A pair of collars 27 and 28 are mounted, one in either end of sleeve 22, to restrain axial movement of slide 23 with respect to the outer sleeve and to serve as bearings on the handle for the outer sleeve. These collars; may be pressed in'or may be retained by spinning overthe ends of sleeve 22. The collars carry tabs 27a and 28b which engage in notches in the ends of the slide to anchor the slide against rotation in the outer slide. A pin 29 passing through the handle 15 engages in slots 24 and 25. The entire assembly consisting of sleeves 22 and slide 23' and collars 27 and 28, is rotatable with respect to handle 15 and axially movable along the handle to the limit of slots 24 and 25.

, Sleeve 17, which may be termed the holding sleeve, is mounted at a convenient distance from sleeve 22 so that an operator may grasp thev two sleeves with her hands. To operate the shaking device, theoperator grasps sleeve 17 with one hand and pushes sleeve 22 quickly back and forth and with the other hand, thus and a halfturn. A rotary travel of about 137 has been found satisfactory. This amount of ,rotary travel permits ft the handle tob'uild up sufiicientrotational speed so that.-

when the direction is reversed by reversing the axial direction of motion of the sleeve 22, a quick jerk is imparted to the mop head mounted on wire 16. Very effective cleaning is thus obtained.

In the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the slide,

instead of being a one-piece tubular sleeve, as in Figs. 4 and 8, is composed of two semi-tubular members 31, which are identical in construction. Each of these mem bers carries a slot 32 forming a partial helix. When the two members" are'assembled' onthe handle, they cooperate with pin 29 to rotate the handle when sleeve 22 is moved back and forth fas' previously described' In the modification shown in Figs. 9; 10 and 1 1, the cam" sleeve assembly'i's made up of-two metalstampings of generally helical form, as'illustrated in Fig. 9; "Each stampinghas recessed portions'34 and 35 alon'gits longitudinal "edges, and'end portions 36 and 3S-- which are full half circles but are disposed'at an angle with'res'pect to each other; Whenthefendfportionsfof the two st'atnp ings 33 are placedftogetherfthe 'recesse'd edge portions 34 and 35 define helical slots" which" are" equivalent to The axially anchored sleeve in the form shown in Fig, 13 consists of a single" molded plastiefp'iece '40fhaving an internal circumferential gt'oove fl 'in which the pro jectingends of pin l9areengaged. The permitassemhly of the sleeve onjto themop' handle ahole '42, communica'ting with greet/e41, is pro'vided in piece" 40. The sleeve" is slid over the handle," the hole -42"is aligned with the holeswhich havebeen'bor'ed inthe mop handle to rec'e'ivef'the'pin. The pin is inserted and hole 42 is" then closed, forexample by a 'plug 'of plastic which is" either press-fitted or cemented in i The modifiedffor'm of slide shown in Fig. 14 consists of a single molded sleeve 43, having 'a pair of spiral internal grooves 44 closed at 'theends'hy walls 145 and 46 which serve as end stops. A'hole 47 is provided communic'atin'g withone of the grooves 44. The sleeve is assembled on to the mop handle in the samemanner as the sleeve of Fig. '13, that is, by aligning hole 47 with holes in the handle, inserting pin 29,,and plugging hole Another type of molded sleeve is shown in, Fig. 14. Here the sleev'e'i's made of twotubulai' pieces and 51, preferably made of slightly flexible plastic Piece'St) con} stitutesthe main body of the sleeve and has an internal reC'essSGzz extending from one end into thejc'enter Piece 51' is pressed into this recess and has a rib 51a which snaps'into aishallowgr oov e in pre se. Piece Sliced be assembled with 'piece' 50; after fihei latter :has ,been placed'fon the shaft and slid over? pifi 19"." the two pieces are assembled, they form fa c curnf erentiall groove-52 in which'pin 1 9 ridesi J -The type of sleeve sh wn'in fFig i JS is likewise rnade up of we tubular pieces of plastic 53 and 54." Pie cje 53 constitutes the'main'body ofthe' sleeve, and has a pairpf oppositely dis posed' internal spiral; groovesi 55"" (only one of which is shown) closed"at"tlrefiriglit-haend by an end wall portion 53a. Th'e btlierjen'jdfis internally re cessed to the radial depth; of groovesf'55 1 and free'eives piece 54,'Which hasarib 54a engaging a shallow circumferential groovein piece Piece54 servesj as an end wan closing the'left-hand' end er; grooves 55, and may be pressed into'the piece 53 after the 'latterfhasfbeen placedon the handle and pi'n 29fhasbeen engaged in grooves 55. The 'two-piece sleeyes shown'in7Figsf14 and"15function:,in the same manner asthe one-piece, sleeves o'f Figs. 12 and 13, respect ive ly,"bu tarefsorriewhat easier'to 'moldand assemble; It is un d "stood, that the plastit: material of ;whielri ftheseftwo-p V i j made i f fi t nt all i'f id i Hil -l l hoilgli' flnibility to permit ribsfl5l d' 'andlj5'4a to be' forced fin the'seat' in the "respective eireumferentialgreovesl 1 Among the constructions slie "in Figs,f1"thr ough 11, the tubulai' on e piece slide; such as sleeve 2 3,ftnay be preferable in some instances as it permits a large angular range for slots 24 and 25. The split sleeve for-m shown in Fig. 7 is somewhat easier to manufacture and assemble and may be preferred in some cases for this reason. The split form of sleeve shown in Figs. 9 through 11 permits a longer angular range for the slots than that of Fig. 7 and may be assembled as readily. The operation of all three of these typesof slidesis very similar.

The slots which pii1-29 rides should be disposed at a gradual enough angle. so that thepin willride back and forth easily but the angle" should, nevertheless, begg rs ciently steeptoprovide the desired speed of rotation to the handle in a reasonable reciprocating travel of sleeve 22. For example, a helix angle of about 16 has been found satisfactoryfor slot s 24 and. 25;;or the equivalent slots of the split forms of slides, or slots 44 or 55. About 30 is the maximum helix angle which will operate without too much resistance. If the slot is much steeper than this, the sleeve" tends to twist in theusers hand. The lower'limit for the helix angle is determined b y such considerations as the length of axialtravel and the aniountof rotary travel-of the handle desired.

The shaking attachment here described does not add appreciably to the size, 'enpen se, or weightof the mop, and does not interfere with the.v use of the mop in the usual manner; The easy op ei'ationof, the cleaning-device encourages frequent eleaningofthe mop-headandthus ensures maximum efliciencyland long life of the 111615 head.

It is understood that the positions of the axially fi xed sleeve and theoper'ating' sleeve on the handlecan be varied, as desired. For example, their positions can be reversed so that the operatingsleeve is between the map head and the fined sleeve. i

A m'op comprising an; elongated handle having a -longitudinal axis, a pair: of tubular grip inembers' having smooth outer walls, means rotatably ir'r ounting saidjlian dle in one of said grip "members and; securing said handle and said one grip member against 'substantialrelative movement along the handleaxis, a pair- 'of canrfollower projections on diametrically opposite sides of said handle, the other of said grip members being provided with a pair of diametrically opposite longitudinallyhelicaL cam slots in the inside ofsaid other grip member and arranged one in' sliding camming engagement with-eaeh of said cam follower -projections for oscillating said handle by relativelylongitudinally reciprocating said other grip member whiletholding said one grip "member relatively stationary, said slotsflbeing disposed :at'-alhelix angle angle of not more than 30 with respeettto' saidhandle axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent. 

